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peta2 ♥'s Dino!

Through a local school’s mentorship program, peta2 L.A. staffers like Annie, Sara, and me have all gotten to work closely with high school students like Alejandro to give them an internship experience that they won’t forget! This semester, we welcomed Dionicio Moreno—or Dino. Dino volunteered with peta2 every week for the last few months, and he wanted to share his experience with you. Take it away, Dino! —Rachelle

Hello, ladies and gentlemen! My name is Dionicio Moreno, and I am proud to be part of the PETA and peta2 experience. I was able to be part of this experience because of my high school internship program. At first I had interviews with other organizations at the internship fair, and PETA wasn’t even on my agenda. I had some time to relax and prepare myself, and the PETA booth was open, so I told myself, “What about a little bit of practice?”

During the interview, I couldn’t help but think, “Man, PETA is awesome, and if these two representatives were like this, maybe the office environment would be the same!”

I sat down at the PETA table with two people who turned out to be Cody Ammerman and Rachelle Owen. It’s funny how we hit it off even though I didn’t know much about PETA. Cody and Rachelle were more than happy to explain what PETA and peta2 are. During the interview, I couldn’t help but think, “Man, PETA is awesome, and if these two representatives were like this, maybe the office environment would be the same!” Soon, the interview was over, and as we said our goodbyes, I told myself “This organization is for me.”

A week later, I was excited to be PETA bound, and boom, I was introduced to the Bob Barker Building, PETA’s Los Angeles headquarters. There I was given the tour of the building and all the different divisions of PETA and what they do on a daily basis. After the tour I was introduced to the peta2 division, and I felt good to be part of it. peta2 tries to reach out to kids, teens, and college students about animal rights and let them know that animals aren’t really different from us.

I love that fact that this internship was not about making copies or filing. The people here in PETA let you be part of the team, letting you participate in their events if you want to.I participated in a protest at a nearby McDonalds, attended some their donor events and even got to wear the “I Am Not a Nugget” costume. I also got to help out by brainstorming about how peta2 can reach out to more people by passing out stickers, leaflets, and coloring books to elementary school students.

I love that fact that this internship was not about making copies or filing. The people here in PETA let you be part of the experience in letting you about who they are working with and if you want to be part of their events.

Over these few months, I have learned a lot about vegan nutrition, current events, and how they are related to animals—like the seal slaughter and how world hunger can be stopped by simply going vegan. I knew about people going vegetarian and vegan. However, I didn’t know how and all the reasons why. I learned that having no animal-based products in your life can reduce the risk of you getting sick and that you can live a very long healthy life. I also learned that it’s easy to leave the animal products off your plate, especially with all the vegan versions of foods, such as tofu, Tofurky, and more. These alternatives are way better than eating any animal-based products and are much healthier! Vegan food has no cholesterol and is high in fiber, so you stay full longer.

I learned that having no animal-based products in your life can reduce the risk of you getting sick and that you can live a very long healthy life.

PETA has made an impact in my life not just with the lifestyle or the work environment but by making me see that activism for animals is in all the little things, like explaining to your friends what PETA is, what being vegan is and why they should join the peta2 Street Team. I learned how easy it is to stop supporting animal suffering by eating plant-based foods, and simply by always adopting and never buying animals from pet stores. I am proud and grateful to have had the PETA experience. So good luck to the next intern who has this chance to see and feel what I did.

Thanks,

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